Farmers to get soil health reports on smartphones

Punjab agriculture department has set up a project management unit (PMU) for successful execution of 2-Dot project that will enable farmers receive updated reports of analysis of soil of their specific piece of agriculture land on their smartphones through a recently launched mobile phone application.Agriculture department had been busy in collecting soil samples for the last one year from across Punjab under a three-year project and analyzing it to know about deficiencies of the soil, project director Dr. Zahoor Ahmad said while presiding over a meeting at Central Cotton Research Institute (CCRI) here Wednesday. A new mobile phone application has been introduced that will make available updated soil analysis reports of their specific land to smartphones of farmers.The new application enabled officials remove difficulties in collecting soil samples and their analysis.Agriculture field staff would be given laptop computers, tablets with all relevant applications installed to enable them have access to weather forecast, crop prices and other details to guide farmers properly.More motorcycles and soil sampling kits were being bought for the newly inducted field assistants, he added. Under the first phase of the project, master trainers have been trained at Lahore, Lodhran and Hafizabad districts.